Carbon

Following the mapping of scopes 1, 2 and 3 of our carbon footprint, gas and electricity usage were found to be the biggest contributor to Muntons own operational carbon footprint which has driven investment in efficient technology.

Our biggest carbon footprint contributor overall is farming at 60%, with the lion’s share coming from fertiliser production. Muntons support the adoption of fertilisers made with reduced nitrous oxide emissions made available by companies such as Yara and GrowHow. When used as a solid fertiliser these options reduce the carbon footprint of growing malting barley by almost 40%. A significant proportion of the barley growing footprint is also associated with the soil – its nutrients, structure and management. Muntons are actively engaged with research bodies to support their drive to replace even more fertiliser with natural compost which both reduces carbon emissions and improves soil structure. Real farm trials with compost have been facilitated through Muntons Malt Supply Chain Limited and an enthusiastic regional brewer and have shown savings that are attractive to make this worth pursuing further.

Muntons has engaged with a number of customers through the Carbon Disclosure Project and assisted numerous others to demystify the issue of calculating carbon footprint. This is currently still the most quoted index of sustainability although in the next section we describe other measures that we use in more detail.

Muntons has been taxed based on its emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) through the European Emissions Trading Scheme for a number of years hence we have reported total tonnes emitted as in the graphic (above). In previous years we have been able to keep emissions relatively flat whilst production volume increased. This has been achieved by continuous improvement and monitoring of our energy usage and investment in efficient technology where possible.

We are also able to report a breakdown of our scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Even though there are definitions of which activities should be assigned to each scope there is some latitude in how companies determine how to allocate parts of the supply chain. The table (above) gives our definitions which are broadly in line with the government reporting advice.